let's talk about finding a job right now (solo show)

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So let's dive in today. Again, today's about the job. There's not a lot of DM's, a lot of conversations. I had a conversation yesterday. JC is good to see you. I had a conversation yesterday with an individual called me. He's like, I'm at basically, this is the summary of the conversation. I'm at my wit's end. I don't know what to do next. The information you've been giving me is good, but it really hasn't been helping me that much. And again, the biggest thing I'm seeing, so I talked to this individual and if this individual's watching, I don't mean to see you out, but it's a really good conversation.

So again, I wanna share with everybody. So I talked to this individual and this individual was like, I was like, well, so he was like, they were like, hey, I'm a, I've since we've spoken, and it's been about a month since we've spoken. I think it's been a little bit more, but let's just say a month, four weeks, as we've spoken. I've spoken to, I think he said 19 people and he's only, and it applied to 40 jobs. What up, Lawrence, good to see you. So let's just say in a four, I think it's been longer than four weeks, but let's just say in a four week block, this individual has only done, what did he say?

19 phone calls and 40 applications in four weeks. Listen, the job search is about activity right now, right? The job search is activity. And when I say activity, I mean, meaningful activity. And when I say activity, I mean talking to people. So in four weeks, how many days is that? Let's just, in 30 days, this individual spoke to only 19 people, and didn't even speak to 19, they said, they reached out to 19 people. I think they said they spoke with like 14 people, right? So you're averaging like, you know, what is that? I'm terrible at math, that's four, 14, what is that, is that three?

It's about three people a week, right? And so my goal, like if you do not have a job, my goal is for you to have two conversations a day, right? So in 30 days, you should be having 60 conversations. This individual only had maybe 14 conversations, right? So let's just round down. You're essentially doing six times less of a conversation than you're supposed to be having. Now, now when it comes to, when it comes to conversation, the biggest question I get was, is Taylor, you're having these conversations with people, what do I talk about? And I think it depends on where you're at in your career.

So this individual was more junior, more on the junior side, and I said, what you need to do is ask how people got into tech. You almost need to turn it into a podcast a little bit, right? Which we can go down that route. I'm not going down that route this morning, but you could essentially turn your job search conversations into a podcast really easily. But we won't get into that today, keep it simple. Have the conversation, right? So if you're junior in your career, hey, Mr. Mr. Mrs. Person, I know you don't know me from Adam. I'd love to have a conversation with you six, seven minutes of how you found a job.

Would love to know how you did it, right? Pick their brains. Then here's the kicker, and I told this to this individual on the phone yesterday. The kicker is, is if you are vibing on the call, if you're not vibing, don't ask this, but if you're vibing on the call, ask to be introduced to another person. Ask to be introduced to another person. The warm lead, the referral game, is something that I was taught in the recruiting world, Vincent, if you're still watching, I'm sure you're fairly familiar with, anybody in sales wants a warm lead. It is so awkward trying to message and have a conversation with somebody with a complete stranger.

So after you have that conversation, try to get one piece of tangible advice. Like when I say a meaningful conversation, I want you to learn one thing. One thing. Now, if that person is like, hey, I'm too busy, what do you want? Ask them some questions real quick in the DMs, and that counts too, right? But stay close to people. So but now if you're more senior in your career, your networking should be picking other people's brains. So let's say you're a senior back-end engineer who's been doing node and Kotlin and bought a lot of lot of right. I would message other senior engineers at big companies, but hey, listen, I'm not trying to get a job.

I know you are, but don't come across that way. You got a romance a little bit, right? I feel like right now people are very desperate and I get it. The market is incredibly difficult, but people are so desperate right now, they just go in, they just go in for it. They just go in for it. And so it's like, listen, you got a romance, a brother a little bit, right? You got a romance, a sister a little bit. Like don't just go for the ask because it's very off-putting right now. I have so many people my DMs. Can I have a job? No, you can't, I'm not saying I can't.

I don't give you jobs, right? You have to do the work. I can give you advice, but I can't give you a job, but that's just a big turn-off. It's like, oh, so you're just messaging me because you want a job? You don't want to be my friend? Anyways, so go for the ask, right? Learn, hey, hey, listen, I'm a back-end engineer. I've always wanted to learn a little bit more about Kotlin. I say, you do Kotlin, let's talk again. One of my big, one of my friends, his name's Connor. I'm sure he'll be finding me and saying, Connor, Connor got a job at Netflix.

You know how Connor got a job at Netflix? Because all he was doing is DMing people at Netflix, asking a technical question, asking a technical, like I forgot. He was on, he was on, he was at Evernote, and he was on like some team at Evernote doing this technology, and he wanted to work at Netflix. So what he did is he messaged people at Netflix, asking about this technology that they were learning that Evernote was, it was fucking brilliant. And what happened is, is like 10 conversations later he got a job. I got a question from Sammy on the score, 007. If you have a question, yes, though a question, please, I will answer that.

It's also kind of hard to balance between all these streams. So if you have any questions, let me know. Let's see here. I wanted to get a few more people tuning in. Wendy coming in and doing some celebration, I started moderating for a great gaming community in this core, congratulations, Wendy. That's awesome. I think moderating and discord, in my opinion, is a great way to network. If you want a network, just go be a moderator. Like, Gun I O, we're looking for moderators. Like, if you want to be a moderator and be engaging and like ask some questions, like hit me up, right? Like, I think it's a great way to network.

Let's see here. Taeya comes in here, looking forward to hearing this episode, preparing to start my search again. I love it. JC, my win this week was giving my first in person, hey, JC, I'm so proud of you. Big dog, that's awesome, man. That's really, really, really cool. And then congratulations on first hackathon a couple months ago, Taeya. And then Nate comes in, same as dating, open with intrigue and the compelling story. I love that. Build relationships, not connections. Many conversations or seeds you might not believe for you. 100% totally great. Now, now, Nate, now this advice for Nate, this may seem a little overwhelming because you're like, well, I need a job now.

The thing is, it's, again, you have to have the conversations but picking people's brains and then maybe, and then like, maybe at the end of the conversation if you're vibing, but hey, I don't know if you're hiring, but like just keep me in mind, right? A slow ask, right? A slow, like a low key ask. I do want to talk about Java Applying right now, right? So this individual who I spoke to said that they've applied for like 40 jobs in four weeks. That's 10 a week. I know people that are doing like 100 a day. And that's why I told this individual. Like you have to understand something.

Right now, the job search is like training for a marathon. Right? The job search, and now I've never trained for a marathon, but I follow a bunch of people who train for a marathon. Cause I feel like once you hit your 30s and you are some sort of competitive athlete in your college career, you just do a marathon because it's the grind it's the journey, with the Adi Adi Adi Adi. And to train for a marathon, you don't just show up and run a mile every day and be done. Cause then you just get really good at being a mile runner, right? What you do to train for a marathon, shout out minted New York by the way, they're not a sponsor, I wish, but it's a great brand.

And I follow, they document marathon running, but basically like they train in circuits, right? You have circuit training, you have long distance training, short distance training, a lot of, I guess I'm not a runner, I'm just kind of making this up. But you have different ways to train for a marathon, right? They don't just run a mile, right? So when you're on the job search, you don't just submit a few resumes and you're done, right? You have to do all of it. It is a grind. In my opinion, the output that you put out in the world and your job search is a direct correlation with how fast you find a job.

I truly believe that the amount of output that you put on a daily basis is a direct correlation with how quickly you're going to find a job, right? So for me, again, it's valid volume, but it's, it's, it's make sure you're navigating all of these things, right? So first off, are you a part of one disc quarter slack channel, right? Be be a mod somewhere, right? Be a mod in a disc or be, be engaged. Second things, are you applying a job? And are you applying to like 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 jobs? Maybe a day. I would block out two hours of your day to just apply to jobs, right?

Now it's funny, like to tailor, if I might catch all your old content, you say don't apply to jobs, yes, correct. But like times are changing. You got it, we got to do everything we can right now, right? Third thing is, are you networking with people, right? Fourth thing is are you engaging on social media with liking and commenting people on LinkedIn, right? Like you need to be on LinkedIn, you need to be on Twitter. If you're in tech, I would be on Twitter if you're not in tech, be on LinkedIn. I mean LinkedIn is an incredibly underrated place for you to network. It's probably not the best place for you to find a job but it's the best place for you to network.

And the fifth thing I've lost count at this point, fifth thing is are you leveraging are you hitting up people in your network? Everybody that I've talked to lately or seen on social media that I've found a job is they found it through their network, right? Which is not surprising right now. Again, I've talked to multiple hiring managers across the tech space from small startups to enterprise environments and they say they get referrals for their open jobs. I, one director of engineering, I talked to you, had 15 referrals, 15 people referred to him. But like, hey, we know this person is good, 15 of them for one job, one job.

I was talking to ahead of engineering at a small startup, right? He said he had five people and in normal times would hire all five people, right? I mean, again, like, you leave no stone unturned right now. I think another thing too, listen, you're attitude affects your outcome. You're attitude affects, I feel like a preacher this morning. You're attitude affects your outcome, right? And I listen, I understand that it is stressful. Again, I got laid off, forced out, whatever you wanna call it last year. Like, I understand. I finally understand, right? How stressful it is. But if you are calling people and having conversations and there is a tone of like stress and there's a ton of exacerbation and there's just this tone of like angst and consternation, nobody is gonna wanna talk to you.

Nobody. You need to be more pleasant right now, more kind, right? I don't know how you grew up. I grew up Southern Baptist. Yes sir, no sir, yes ma'am, no ma'am. I still say yes ma'am, no ma'am, right? Like, that is what it's gonna take right now. Like, again, you have to be kind and you have to put on a fake, maybe it's fake. And I get it. You're like, I don't wanna be fake. All right, well, that's fine, but no one wants to hire you or. I'm just gonna say it. No one wants to hire you or ask some questions. If you have them, I wanna get to a few people and see here.

It's good to see you shout out Garrison. Yes, shout out Gary, love that dude, the death. What is a realistic amount of output for somebody with the job? Realistic, so this is a great question by Trey, Trey, I'm glad you asked this. So realistic output. Depending on how your day is structured, but in my opinion, I would try to network with three people a week, right? Not two a day. Like, talk to, try to talk to three people a week, right? And those three people, again, like you could be a part of a meet up somewhere, right? Like, and just say, hey, we'll love to chat with you.

See what you got going on to your company. You know, on the yellow, I'm looking. What's still other network with you? What do you guys, what are you guys going on, right? So, and I would try, it depends, Trey, and again, there's so many questions I would ask you if you were live with me. Like, what is your five to nine look like after you're nine to five, right? Like, do you have kids, do you have a family? Like, if you don't have kids, you don't have a family. Your five to nine should be job searching every night. If you have kids and you have a family, that's really, really tough, because my five to nine for the most part is obviously with my kid and my wife.

And so, you know, again, I think you gotta make it work, but I would at least try to do something. Try to do something every day if you have a job, but again, Trey, there's so many nuances this conversation that I would just say try to do something every day, right? Steven comes in here, go make some friends, aka network, I send people jobs all the time, but I see I love it. Yeah, I mean, so I'll give a shout to Emmett. Emmett's not here. Like, the best way to network is just send jobs to other people. Like, hey, I saw you're looking, I saw this job of love to connect to you.

I mean, that's like the nicest thing you can do for somebody right now. Let's see here, Wendy comes in here question. I'm restarting a software engineering course, I'm really nervous about sticking with it. It's a fantastic way to network, though. So I really wanna compete it, complete it advice. Wendy, what I would say to you is I would apps, if it's a course, I would use it for networking 100%. Definitely use it for networking. My question is like, why are you nervous sticking with it? Is it time? Is it money? Is it like why are you nervous? But I would say yes, I would say anything to get you networking is huge.

Like anything right now in this market would be huge. Let's see here, Austin comes in here, laid off this week, Austin, I'm sorry to hear this. Any resume tips or first steps? So this is a loaded question. There's a lot here. Austin, shoot me a DM. I do offer coaching. And so we can definitely talk about that if that's something you're interested in. I think high level resume tips keep it super simple. Really, really simple. If you go to GunIO, backslash Taylor, I have like a bunch of free resources, especially on my notion page, and like how to write a resume and all this stuff.

So check that out. So keep your resume simple, keep it quantitative, keep it very specific on how you move the needle. If you're, don't get it bogged down by industry jargon, write it to where you're 65 or my 65 year old mother can understand what you do without knowing what you do. But definitely give some technical jargon in it too to get caught up obviously with search stuff. And yeah, there you go. I think that's interesting activity. Like I said, everything we've talked about. Also check out my YouTube. I got a bunch of resources like this on my YouTube as well. Chris, good to see you.

Let's see here, recruiter here. If we get on a call and I feel like I'm pulling T talk to you, yeah, 100% again. Like how you come across right now is absolutely massive when it comes to job search. Three is realistic. I work delivery. Okay, Amazon from 12 to nine, four days a week during the off days of read. Yeah. So here's your tray. I would say don't read. Don't read. I don't read right now. Like network with people, right? Like message people on LinkedIn. Hey, trying to get my first job in tech. How'd you do it? All that stuff. So let's see here. I started once before and did not finish it.

Yeah. I mean, stick with it again. Like and maybe maybe do a accountability group. Just be open and honest. I think open and honestly just has, it's just really cuts through the noise in this job. So right now just be honest. But hey, I didn't do this last time and you know, I need some help and that's a great way. Have two or three people besides you to keep you. Obviously accountable. Let's see here. Cool. All right. What else? Last few things. Again, like have your resume up on all the job sites even so job sites suck, but dice, career builder, indeed, all that. Make sure that's on there.

Be it being involved in live streaming like this. Like if I were you and you're on the job search, I'd network with every single person on the stream right now. Like we have probably, I don't know, 10, 15 people commenting here. Go network with them. Hey, saw you on Taylor's show. We love the chat for two minutes. How do you think I should get a job? Like crowdsource information, right? Like you realize like if you just ask somebody, hey, how should I find a job? Like people love to hear themselves talk. That's why I do this. Let's be totally honest. I'd love to hear myself talk.

So for me, like I think network with people and be involved, be active. You know, kind of going back to trade. I don't mean to pick on trade, but read a book isn't going to get you a job. Get out there. Doing a Udemy course isn't going to get you a job. Doing, you know, now, now go, now, oh, so this is one thing and I'll wrap up here. If you have any more questions, please ask them, but I'll wrap up here. When it comes to, so I asked this guy, and I'm very proud of this guy for doing this. He said he got three engagements, like three part time freelance projects to help his portfolio from just taking Ubers and talking to the Uber driver, right?

And so like listen, everybody needs something built. I mean, hell, if you want to volunteer your time, I could probably give you something to build that I need, right? Like everybody needs something built, whether it's a to-do list or a calendar management thing or everybody needs something built. So like go to local businesses. Like I'm trying to think of a local business nearby my house. So like there's a veterinarian, right? Like vet, that's, vet, andarians, like they don't like put a lot of emphasis in the tech. So like if I was a developer, I'd walk in to Hendersonville, veterinarian, which is right around here. I'd be like, hey guys, like I'm a web developer.

I'm trying to increase my portfolio. You guys have anything you need help with. Now, they'll mostly likely say, well, I don't know. And they'll probably introduce you to somebody who does, right? You know, there's a bunch of local restaurants up here, right? That have very poor websites, right? Go in and be like, hey, just call in one day. Like, hey, my name's Taylor. I know this is really random, but I'm a software developer, web developer, and I'd love to like work on your website. Free of charge. Are you guys open to this? I can like come in and do some diagram and stuff. Like that's a great way to increase.

So again, like giving something is obviously huge. Let's see here. What creating content. Yeah, I mean, listen, dude, I mean, people are so sick and tired of me when it comes to content questions. But like it really truly is the way to like get attention to you like at scale. Like it's brilliant. So yes, Trey, if I were you, I think you have an amazing story. You're an Amazon driver who wants to break into tech. Tell that story. I will keep up with you. Like so many people like to keep up with people breaking in the tech. I always tell people when people breaking the tech and get their first job, it's like the angel gets its wings.

So it's like again, like yes, I would absolutely create that for sure. Lawrence comes in with a big guy. Biggest resume to Virginia's have something on it. That every other junior right. Yeah, love this. Love this, absolutely. 100%. Yeah, go to mom, odds are website. Yeah, like there's this Lebanese Mediterranean kind of Indian kind of mixed place up here. It's so good. It's called Cafe Raka and their website's trash. And like, I mean, part of, I mean, I don't even do web work. And I'm like, can I help you? So again, huge. Yeah. And again, like I want to, I want to go shout to Jordan here.

Jordan, Jordan, Jordan wrote the website for unicorn finders, my other podcast, the unicorn finders.com. Check it out. He wrote it. I think it's great. And Jordan has said multiple times on the show that doing the work for that. Has allowed him to get his first job because he had work to show, which is huge. Commenting for reasons because I love it, buddy. I love you, man. Yeah, see, I will keep up with trades. Well, Trey, you already got two fans, man. Me and LinkedIn user. I don't know who LinkedIn user is right now. But yeah, so anyways, all right, y'all, I gotta go off to some counseling because mental health is big in the desk and households.

I'm going to counseling. Listen, if you need anything, Holler, shoot me DM. Again, I do offer these services to folks after hours from a career counseling perspective. So if you want to do that, let me know. Shoot me DM's. I do resume and LinkedIn work too. I don't publicize that at time, but I do do that. I've got a lot more DM's about it. So I just want to say like, I do offer those services. So if you want to be a part of those, let me know. Shoot me DM. Hey, you did it. You listened to an entire episode. And I am very grateful because you know why there's a lot of podcasts out there.

There's a lot of episodes and I myself rarely finished an entire episode. So I appreciate you so, so much for listening. Quick reminder, please rate and review this podcast in the app store. I want this to be discoverable to others and the only way that happens is if you take the time right now and rate and review it. Please like right now, unless you're driving, then don't do it. So thank you again. If you need to reach out to me at T-Dastin on all social media handles. And I hope you have a fantastic day.